Foundation Attorneys Bring Exclusive Representation Case for Mass Teachers
In what could be the next groundbreaking development in the road to teacher freedom, attorneys for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (of which CEAFU is a Special Project) have brought a case in Massachusetts against two Massachusetts unions on behalf of union members whose constitutional rights are being violated by forcing them to choose between becoming union members and having to pay dues or being denied a say in the collective bargaining process.
While the Janus decision last year gave teachers and all public sector workers the right to refrain from union membership, it was just a step on the long journey to true teacher freedom. In many states teacher union officials have locked up teacher freedom with exclusive representation privileges which dictate working conditions for all teachers, but do not let all of those teachers have a say in their working conditions. If a teacher chooses to be a nonmember where an exclusive representative clause is in effect, that teacher cannot vote on the monopoly bargaining contract or any say in any union business. As a consequence, many teachers become union members so they have more say in their own working conditions because otherwise they are not free to negotiate with their employer on an individual basis.
Patriot Ledger Staff has the story in that paper.
Four Massachusetts educators, including Hanover’s Deborah Curran, have partnered with the National Right to Work Coalition to argue that unions should not have the right to be the sole representative of employees in their workplace.